A typical computer system includes several components that are collectively used by a user to perform various functions such as preparing and generating a document with a word processor application. Specifically, the computer system may include an input and output portion, such as storage media, monitors, printers, keyboards, and other input/output devices as well as a computing portion.
The computing portion of a computer system typically includes various components such as, for example, a power supply, disk drives, and the electrical circuitry required to perform the necessary and requested operations of the computer system. The computing portion may also include a plurality of circuit boards on which various circuit components are implemented. For example, a computing portion designed with enhanced sound reproducing capabilities may include a circuit board dedicated to implementing circuitry that specifically operates to process data associated with the reproduction of sound.
Various chips are connected onto the circuit board. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the chips may be used to house and support various types of integrated circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), microprocessors, and digital logic chips). The chips communicate with one another, i.e., pass data, using wires or traces of conductive material (e.g., copper or gold) embedded in the circuit board.
Different types of chips exist. For example, one type of chip is a crossbar switch, which is an electrical device used to connect and disconnect one or more inputs to one or more outputs at will. Between the input and the output is at least one flow control buffer. A flow control buffer creates a delay between transferring data from the input to the output. The delay allows the output inform the input when the output can or cannot accept data. In another example, another type of chip is a network on chip (NOC). The network connects multiple nodes for processing data. Each node has a corresponding flow control buffer. As with the crossbar switch, the flow control buffers on a NOC allow the core of a chip to control the flow of data to the core.